£54.4m to improve public transport and support economic growth in south east Wales

THE Welsh Government is investing £23.4 million in south west Wales to improve public transport and encourage economic growth, the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, Ken Skates has said.

Local authorities were invited to submit proposals to the Welsh Government for local transport improvements in their areas that will help to deliver the priorities and ambitions of Wales’ Transport Strategy – Llwybr Newydd. These include:

Addressing disruptions to the highway network caused by severe weather.
Improving road safety
Delivering walking and cycling routes
Improving bus journey times and waiting facilities
Delivering publicly available EV charging infrastructure
The substantial support, which is designed to help local councils to improve transport in their area, includes funding for Active Travel and Safe Routes, Road Safety, EV charging facilities, road resilience, local transport and unadopted roads.

In south west Wales £23.4m will be used for schemes such as the replacement of Black Bridge and links in Llanelli, improvements to the A487 in Newgale and funding for the Haverfordwest bus interchange.

Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, Ken Skates said: “These grants are a substantial investment to support sustainable local economic growth, enhance public transport facilities and create and improve routes that will enable and encourage more people in Wales to walk, wheel and cycle.

“The projects are prime examples of the practical solutions we have asked local authorities to design in order to make it easier for residents to connect with their places of employment and businesses, and to do so more sustainably.”

This funding also builds on allocations which have been made to different phases of some projects in previous years.